200th Birthday of Prince Henri of Orange-Nassau

Two portraits: to the left, Prince Henri of Orange-Nassau; to the right, the familiar portrait of the current Grand Duke Henri. Along the left edge: the commemorative inscription "Prince Henri d'Orange-Nassau". Below the portraits: the years "1820" and "1879", the issuing state "LUXEMBOURG", and the year "2020".

Prince Henri of Orange-Nassau (1820–1879) was the second son of King William II of the Netherlands and entered Luxembourg's history in 1840 as Stadtholder. In this role he effectively governed the Grand Duchy independently while the personal union with the Netherlands still existed. Henri is regarded as a decisive figure in Luxembourg's state formation: under his stadtholdership, a liberal constitution was introduced in 1848 that fundamentally modernised the country and completed the transition to a constitutional monarchy. At the same time, he oversaw Luxembourg's foreign-policy realignment, which, following the Treaty of London of 1867, made the country a permanently neutral and demilitarised nation — a status that continues to shape the country's self-understanding today.

In Luxembourg's culture of remembrance, Henri holds a special place because he stabilised the Grand Duchy during a period of profound European upheaval. His rule fell in an era when Luxembourg's political allegiance — to the Netherlands, to the German Confederation, or as an independent state — was by no means clearly settled. The decisions of those decades laid the foundation for today's national identity. That Luxembourg issued a 2-euro commemorative coin in 2020 to mark Henri's 200th birthday underscores the lasting historical significance of his role for the Grand Duchy.